Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has promised an international standard overhaul of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to cure the long-running derelict state of the main airport.
Speaking on Citizen TV’s Monday report evening show, CS Murkomen noted that the airport is in dire need of a facelift and plans to effect the changes are already underway.
He has promised that before the next General Election, in 2027, Kenyans will be enjoying a gold-standard airport.
He also responded to a video released by CNN journalist Larry Madowo, which showed commuters being rained on owing to a lack of shade and being forced to navigate paddles of water as parts of the pathways flooded.
Murkomen dismissed the video, claiming that the situation has been the same since the airport’s construction and that Madowo is only whining because he has had the opportunity to travel and observe better airports.
“I saw one of your friends taking videos saying that people are rained on when they exit and I was laughing because Larry was with us in the country for the last 50 years but suddenly because he lives in ‘majuu’ (abroad) his eyes are opened and has realised there is no shade… Those questions should have been asked since 1978 it is not news that JKIA does not have a canopy to shield passengers.”
Kenyans have frequently expressed their dissatisfaction with JKIA due to the airport’s condition of disrepair.
Massive leaks were seen in one of the terminals in 2023, and lately, multiple blackouts at the airport as a result of delays in the international airport’s generator reaction.
